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NU rUK IUbLit.AI Iur INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS JCB-18: Sabotage Act, a review January 30, 1963 1239 Arcadia Street Pretoria, Transvaal Republic of South Africa Mr. Rchard Nolte Institute of Current World Affairs 366 Madison Avenue New York 17, New York Dear Mro No1%e: On uly 30th last year 120 South Africans became the country’s first "unquotables". Their names appeared on a list of banned persons. who, under the provisions of the recently passed General Laws Amendment Act (JCB-11) can no longer have their words published or quoted in Sou%h Africa. The list, released by the Department of Justice, ncluded 82 men .and 20 women 52 Europeans, 35 Africans, 9 Coloureds and 6 Indians. At leas% 6, including Patrick Duncan, Ronald Segal and Oliver Tambo, were known %o be out of %he country. The list contained few surprises since most of the banned people were already known. But the application of the "no-quote" rule became pretty intricate and the Minister of Justice, Mr. B.. Forster, was immediately called upon to reconsider the law and clary its use. He is the only one who can make qualifications. Ex,cept_ons, to_ the ru.le Breakfast quip He gave Members of Parliament permission to quote banned persons when this might be necessary in the course of a debate on legislation. But he has not yet made clear whether the words of a banned Cape Town City Councillor can be included in minutes of City Council meetings. (Newspapers are not allowed to print his speeches). A Professor on the banned list was given permission to appear before his class and at University staff meetinSo His students are allowed to tke notes at hs lectures an4 reproduce them on examinationSo then can not disseminate them in any manner without courting prosecution. Nor can the Professor publish any of his notes, even if they are of a technical nature related to his particular academic field, without express permission of the Minister. "And d.o, you solemnly swear you won t lend this book by banned person to an un- banned person?"

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Page 1: IUbLit.AI Iur OF · JCB-18-3- 12:00 noon and 2:00 PM every day except Sundays and public holidays, a walk nher case of three mles every lunch hour. As a banned person she may no longer

NU rUK IUbLit.AI Iur

INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS

JCB-18: Sabotage Act, a reviewJanuary 30, 19631239 Arcadia StreetPretoria, TransvaalRepublic of South Africa

Mr. Rchard NolteInstitute of Current World Affairs366 Madison AvenueNew York 17, New York

Dear Mro No1%e:

On uly 30th last year 120 South Africans became the country’s first"unquotables". Their names appeared on a list of banned persons.who, under the provisions of the recently passed General LawsAmendment Act (JCB-11) can no longer have their words publishedor quoted in Sou%h Africa. The list, released by the Department ofJustice, ncluded 82 men .and 20 women 52 Europeans, 35 Africans,9 Coloureds and 6 Indians. At leas% 6, including Patrick Duncan,Ronald Segal and Oliver Tambo, were known %o be out of %he country.

The list contained few surprises since most of the banned peoplewere already known. But the application of the "no-quote" rulebecame pretty intricate and the Minister of Justice, Mr. B.. Forster,was immediately called upon to reconsider the law and clary itsuse. He is the only one who can make qualifications.

Ex,cept_ons, to_ the ru.le Breakfast quipHe gave Members of Parliament permissionto quote banned persons when this might benecessary in the course of a debate onlegislation. But he has not yet made clearwhether the words of a banned Cape TownCity Councillor can be included in minutesof City Council meetings. (Newspapers arenot allowed to print his speeches).

A Professor on the banned list was givenpermission to appear before his class andat University staff meetinSo His studentsare allowed to tke notes at hs lecturesan4 reproduce them on examinationSothen can not disseminate them in any mannerwithout courting prosecution. Nor can theProfessor publish any of his notes, even ifthey are of a technical nature related tohis particular academic field, withoutexpress permission of the Minister.

"And d.o, you solemnly swearyou won t lend this book bybanned person to an un-

banned person?"

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Books written by a banned person before the Sabotage Act becamelaw can be crculated by public libraries to their members butmembers can be prosecuted f they, n turn, loan them to anyoneelse. xsting copes of Albert Luthul’s boo Let My Peop!.publish before the passage of the Act, were a11owe’d to be soldbut no further copies can be imported.

Newspapers were given permission to publish .statements made bybanned persons who appear in court, whether they are lawyers ordefendents. But on17 "as long as it is not abused b7 creating aforum for such persons who might, by that means, get around theintentions of the Act and the order. If there is an7 abuse b,7 anewspaper, periodical or person, it miht lead to the concessionbeing withdrawn..

Thus a errible onus is placed on the press %o decide what canor cannot be prined. Reporters mus con%into fly check a lisof over i00 names to be sure they don’% inadvertanly quote abanned person. They must also be the judges as to wha mightconstitute an "abuse" of he Minister’s concessions.

Newspaper reports of the rial of Nelson Mandela (JCB-20), leaderof the banned African National Congress (ANC), held recently inPretoria, included only fragments of hs testimony and none ofhis lengthy and eloquent summng-up. The papers explained that itwas im.Dossble under the stipulations of the Act. A senor officialin the Justice Department told me that the English press tried togive a false mpresson by th_s statement. ".They were free opublish the trial’s proceedings. The Minister has made ths veryclear." But when I suggested that f they dd print what Mandelasad they mght be "creating a forum" for hs political beliefs,he agreed. "The papers were probably rght they could havegotten into trouble over %." The page n the London Observercontaining Mandela’s closing defense was cut out b’fe tl’’e aperwas dstrbu%ed here.

De Vaderland summed up the effect of the law: "As far as the-’’-s is concerned banned people virtually do not exist n SouthAfrica."

,Hou,s. ,A,rre,s,t, -_ Inst_an_t._ JailS.

In October, he firs of a new kind of ban was issued: the housearrest. It restricted Mrs. Helen Joseph o her home for five yearsexcep for hose hours, she had customarily used in "gainful employ-ment". That is, she must remain in her home alone on all publicholidayS weends from 2:30 ]M.on Saturday o 6:30 AM on Monday,and da/17 during %he week from 6:30 PM %o 6:30 AM. She must notaend any gatherings nor communicae in any way wh "lised"persons. She mus report to a specified police sation between

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12:00 noon and 2:00 PM every day except Sundays and public holidays,a walk n her case of three mles every lunch hour. As a bannedperson she may no longer be quoted.

There need be no formal charges, no trial, %0 place a person underhouse arrest. No court found Mrs. Joseph guilty of a crime. Shehad been acquitted wth theothers in the Treason Trials.The Minister placed her outof crcula%ion because he de-cded %ha% %he evidence pre-sented %0 him by %he SpecialBranch warranted such ac%iono

Mrs. Joseph was a founder ofthe Congress of Democrats (COD),a pro-Communist group startedn 1953, and a member ofnational executive committee.She has been national secre-tary to the ederation ofSouth African Women, an organi-zation closely allied with CODwhich has actively demonstratedagainst the Government’s racialpolicies. She is honorary secre-tary of %he Human Rights WelfareComm%%ee which assists peoplewho have been banished (Eenerallychiefs and sub-chiefs who havebeen removed from %her eribalarea because %hey were considereda source of trouble- a practicen use in South Africa sinceSmuts was Prime Mnster).Mrs. Joseph had been restrictedu.nder an earlier banning order.When t expired n Aprl shemade an extensive trp throughSouth Africa vsting some 70of the banished Africans. Shehas written a book entitledIf This Be Treason which Eivesthe-pers’nal "st0res of theaccused at the Treason Trials(1956-61). Unless the Mns%erEves hs permission,be seen or read here.

"She was not delberatel7pcked to be the first one!"a Justice Department official

Mrs. Joseph on one of her dailywalks to the police station.

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told me. ’er previous ban had expired and snce the house arrestorder was ready, we used t; we had to start somewheres:.

’"e avoided the courts because f a banned person were tried ncourt the State would have to reveal its source of nformation, andthen that source would dry up and the lves of nformants mghtbe endangered.’,

The public has been reassured repeatedly that Mrs. Joseph wouldnot have been restricted unless there was a ood reason, but %hisreason has never been made known, either to the public or toMrs. Joseph herself.

After two wees of sporadic criticism and concern, other housearrests followed. By the end of the year 20 people were underhouse arrest and public nterest had declined to the point wherethe announcement of the last ones received scant mention on thensde pages of Johannesburg newspapers.

Eight of the twenty are under 24 hour house arrest. They are:

Mrs. Sonia Isaacman Buntipg: part time employee of the pro-Communist NW’Age ’uhtKii-tas banned two months ago. A TreasonTralst and lis-ed Communist. Mother of three children.

Mr. Michael Harmel: 47, a Johannesburg journalist who wroteweekl-y for New-.ge and was one of the editors of its predecessor,Guardian until-x%Was banned in 1948. In 1955 he becamePr’ncipal of a private Indian High School at Pordsburg. Alisted Communist.

Mr. Jack Hodgson: 52, a Johannesburg wholesaler, nationalSeCrtary-Of CO before it was banned. Was national secretary

"Springbok Legion"of the politically active veterans group, ,after World War II. Treason Trialist and a listed Communist.

Mr. Moses Kotane: 57, secretary of the Communist Party until itWas b’nned’ ’in 1950, member of the ANC executive until it wasbanned in 1960o One of the few South Africans to attend theBandung Conference n 1955. He was sentenced n 1952 for contra-vening the Suppression of Communism Act because he dd notadhere to the regulations of his ban. Treason Trialist.

Mr. Alex la Guma: Cape Town journalist who was on the staff ofNeW" Age. President and executive committee member of the now-banhd South African Coloured People’s Congress. Treason Trialst.

Mr. MacDonald Maseko: Johannesburg lawyer’s clerk. He was amember’"o{-thd banned ANC and vice-presdent of Dr. Ambrose Swane’ssection of the Swaziland Progressive Party.

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r. Tom Nkobi: Johannesburg. Former national6rgani’er--f’6r the ANCo

Mr. Alfred Nzo: Johannesburg agent for ew Age’hd e’xecuve’ "committee member of the ANC. Oneof 12 arrested in March 1961 for participationin the "All-In" Conference which the Governmentconsidered to be an ANC-PAC front.

Besides Mrs. Joseph,12 hour house arrest:

eleven others are under

Mr. R.I. Arenstein: Durban attorney. TreasonTrISt and lidSted Communist whom polcesuspect of being behind much of the previoussubversive ant-Government activity in Natal.

Mr. Lionel Bernstein: 42, Johannesburg archi-%-C%. Treason ’Tria’l’ist and listed Communist.His wife is on %he banned list.

b!r. Bri..an Percy Bunting: 42, Bditor of S__.dit6r 0f ’New Ae, Until’ it was banned. Formerember of Parliament (elected as Native Repre-sentative and later expelled because a Communistcannot serve in Parliamen%)o ditor ofGuardian__ and its predecessor, Advance_. Bdi%ed%he ’s’pringbok Legion magazine after-the war,His wife is under 24 hour house arrest.

Mr. cornelius Juda..Fazz!e- .ast London. Execu-t’ve member of the banned Pan African Congress(PAC) and the last to be house-arrested n 1962.

Irs.:. Ri,c,a ,Hodg.s,on,: Former national secretaryof COD-(replacing her husband Jack when hewas banned from that office). A listed Communist.Her husband s under 24 hour house arrest.

Mr. Nathaniel Impey Honono: Umtata, Transkei.an-ghg-Di-rector of Pr’0’seri ty InsuranceCompany which was featured in an August issueof the Digest of South African Affairs as asignificant"’ AfriCan ’bu’sin4ss Cnceh. In 1955he was dsmssed as President of the Cape

Jack Hodgson, 24 African Teachers Association because of hshour house arrest opposition to the Bantu ducaton Act. Theand Bran Bunting, Teachers Association was associated wth the12 hour. Both Non-uropean Unity Movement.have wves underhouse arrest wth Mr. Ahmen hohamed Kathrada: Leader of the Trans-them. va--’Indian 0ngres’s and fbrmer youth leader for

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the South African Indian Congress. Recently secretary of theMandela Defence Committee. Treason Trialisto

Mr...Duma Nokwe: First African admitted to the bar. SecretaryGneral Of the ANC when it was banned. Under prosecution forfurthering the aims of an unlawful organization (the ANC).He shared a law office wth Walter Sisulu. Treason Trialist.

Mr. Walter Max ulyate s..sul_u: 50, Treasurer of the ANC when itWa’S’ ’banned’,-now facedwith-charges of nciting people to strikeon Republc Day, 1951. Has travelled n Russia and China. ATreason Tralst.

Mr. Jack_David Tarnish: 41, Cape Town businessman previouslyarrested for ri%in-g’ igns on publlcroperty. Was involved afew years ago in a Lo’,don fght with Sr Oswald Mosley’s supporters.A 1i sted Communst.

Mr. Cecil Wlliams : 53, Johannesburg theatrical producer. AVc’e’liairmn of-COD and national chairman of the SpringbokLegion untl i3 when t was banned. A 1sted Communist.

Since these arrests have taken place, Mr. Kotane and Mr. Nokwehave left the country to set up offices in Algeria to help with thefreedom cause. Mr. Williams, who fled the country earlier, isnow reportedl7 touring the Soviet satellite countries.

All of the twenty have been banned before at one time or another.Some of them were members of the Communist Party before it wasbanned n 1950. Half of them were tried for treason and acquittedn the Treason Trials. Many spent tme in 33/1 during the 1950"emergency". The Justice Department has watched most of thesepeople closely over the past ten years but has been unable to cur-tail their political activity effectively, it would seem, withoutthis drastic action.

The Mnister justif.i.eg,,hiS.,.a,ction,s....

The Mnste of Justice has offered four principal arguments ndefence of his house arrestss

(I) He abided by the ’rule of law’, He acted only naccord wtb the powers conferred on hm by legislation passed byPar1ament ;

(2) There was no myster7 about why a person was placedunder a ban. "The person is actual17 suppled with the ’reasons’wh7 action s taken against hm."

(3) He did not usurp the powers of the courts snce, everyrestricted person had recourse to the courts; and

(4) Under the crcumstances of increasing threats toSouth Africa’s security (there are African leaders who say SouthAfrica w11 be invaded n 1963) house arrest is quite ’humane’;much better than serving time n prison,

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His use of words lke ’rule of law’ ’recourse %0 courts’ ’reasons’and ’humane’ has been challanged as being qu%e dfferen% n con-text %ban what s generally understood.

"The rule of law", said the Hon. O.D. Schreiner, former Judge ofAppeals, "means that life, liberty, property, freedom of speech andmovement of the individual should not be restricted by State actionwithout good reason." He concluded that "restricting a person forfive years on the grounds that it is an ’emergency’ is not such areason.

Although the binister acts under legislation passed by Parliament,ths doesn’t necessarily mean that the ’rule of law’ is maintained;a law itself can nfrnge on the ’rule of law’. Ths is especiallytrue in South Africa where Parliament is sovereign and can pass anylaw. No court has the authority to test the validity of ParliamentaryActs. Parlamentary routine gives a facade of democratic respecta-blty, but a Government measure is virtually sure of passage once its introduced. Thus the Mnster acts in accordance with laws whichhe and his party colleagues have themselves created.

The only ’reasons’ for house arrest ever given a prsoner have beenthe words of the law itself: that the person has been "engaged nactivities wh{c); are frthering or may further the achievement ofthe objects of Communism." Nothing more nor less.

Whle a banned person has ’recourse to the courts’ it is in a verylmited way. The orders ssued by the Mnster cannot be contestedon +/-her merits because where legislation ives the Minister powerto make orders the court s not concerned wth whether or not theorders are just or moral n a democratic sense but merely whetheror not they have been ssued properly. Thus the only grounds onwhich a banning order can be challened s that te Mnister madea mstake, did not thnk about what he was don, or acted out ofspte.

Mrs. Bunting n Cape Town and Jack Hodgson n Johannesburg bothapplied separately to the Supreme Court for an order to set asidetheir 24 hour house arrest. The Judge-President of the Cape deniedrs. Bunting’s application. She had not been able to show thatthe inister misused the power given to him. The Judge knew nomore than she dd about why the Minister had placed her underarrest but even f he dd know the discretion would still be theMnister’s and not the Court’s.

However, because of a technicality, Hodgson’s application was upheld.The Judge-President in Johannesbur accepted the contention thatsince the word "place" in the Sabotage Act was not clearly defined,the Mns%er could have "made a mstake". As the law now standsthe word "place" could mean anythin from a provnce %o a clothes

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closet. The court ruled that until such a time as the word couldbe defined more specifically it would be assumed that it did notmean a three room apartment. Thus Hodgson and Harmel (under thesame kind of ban) are free to leave their homes until new bans areplaced on them. The Justice Department has appealed the case and,since Parliament is now in session, it is very likely that therewill be an amendment soon.

For those whose home is now a jail, house arrest is not ’humane’.It is not, as the Minister stated, an alternative to prison sincethere has been no trial or sentence. And house arrests presentvery real problems which a prison sentence would not entail.

Grocery shopping, home repairs, etc. are the prisoner’s responsibilityalthough his actions are so greatly hampered. In some cases wherepersons are under 24 hour house arrest the family’s income isseverely curtailed (The inister has the authority to provide fundsto such people if he thinks their case warrants it). Since Harmeland Hodgson have had no bona fide employment for years and yet seemed%o live well, according to the Government’s view, it should presentno financial problem to place them under 24 hour arrest. TheMinister eventually allowed them out for three hours a day to lookfor work.

Michael Harmel had to break his ban to help an injured African lyinghelplessly near his property. He broke it to carry the man to hishouse and later to an ambulance. In this instance the Minister lookedthe other way. Walter Sisulu was charged in court for breaking hisban when, at his mother’s death, he allowed a friend to visit himwho allegedly came to sympathize. He was given permission toattend the funeral.

Mr. Nokwe and Mr. Sisulu, who shared the same law office duringtheir working hours, could not talk to each other since they bothwere banned. The Minister was more tolerant in other situations.He allowed one of the house-arrestees with a toothache o visit hisdentist. Children of banned parents have been allowed to entertaintheir friends in their yards, although in several cases the policehave visited their homes to check on them.

Where husband and wife were both banned, the Minister has allowedthem to talk to each other, which moved Tony Delius to write:

"The official mind is not as rigid as rumour would haveis even capable of foreseeing certain domestic difficulties whichmight arise if a husband and wife were forbidden to deal in the smallconversational change of the conjugal state to point out perhaps thatthe toast was burning or suggest it was time to put the cat out.Such provision vindicates our claim to be a nation where Christianvalues do not go by the board even in difficult times....(But) weare afraid the wider world will not be convinced. There are stilla number of countries where a man does not need ministerial permissionto talk with his wife...."

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._...t,q._g..e_% r.i o.f undesirab!.e_s,,--_-_

When Cecil Williams fled the country, the Minister announcedno-one under house arrest need flee. The Government would helpthem to go; would even "give them ample time to pack their thingsand get their affairs in order before leaving." He also took heoccasion to offer suggestions to anyone else who might be dis-satisfied with the way things are in South Africa. "And I say tosome who were not born in this country: nobody is keeping you here.If you cannot keep the laws why do you not go to some other placewhere there is milk and honey, and if you want my help in gettingthere I will give it with pleasure.

This offer was again repeated by the Minister of Transport, BenScboeman, %0 the R%. Rev. Knpp-Fisher, Anglican Bishop of Pre%oria,when %h% clergyman said

"To let such things (house arrests) pass without protest would beinconsistant with loyal+/-y to Christ and with genuine concern forthe country- for both the victim and perpetrators of this injustice."Silence, he concluded, would lead to the conditioning and bluntingof conscience and conviction.

Mr. Schoeman made it known "%o Knapp-Fisher that we are fed up withpolitical bishops in our country.....We don’t need to be saddled iththem." He also referred to Archbishop de Blank of Cape Town,recuperating from a heart attack in England, "and we hope he s%aysthere;"

Frank Waring, Minister of Information, re-marked that as an Anglican Church memberhe too was fed up with the "extraordinaryself-righteous sincerity" with which theBishop and oher "Christian leaders clohe%heir polifica/ outbursfs which give %hempublicify and newspaper headlines, when%hey are so ill-equipped to give opinionson mailers of governmen%."

._._._an_d e_specially !.iber.als._ .the....w.or_st_ of,the i0’.

The attack on anyone and evervone who expressedqualms over house arrest centered especiallyon the liberals whom the Minister equateswith Communists. "Experience has taughtme that if you tread on the toe of a Communistsomewhere in the Republic of South Africa,all liberals throughout the Republic crybecause you have done so. I must %here%oreout of necessity look for a relationship.Otherwise I cannot understand why i% hasdeveloped exactly this way."

Breakfast quip

"Weren’t you a little harshtelling that politician to keephis nose out of religion?"

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He severely criticized the current of liberalism in nglish-mediumUniversities which still foster ideas of multi-racialism. He re-ferred %o the election of Albert Luthuli as honorary President ofthe National Union of South African Students (NUSAS),the election of a banned Coloured student to the Students Representa-tive Council at Wits, and t!.e electon of an African as the HeadWoman Student at the University of Cape Town. lie warned the Randpa!y_M_ail (which follows more or less %le Progressive lne)other newspapers that if they continue to air their liberal ideasthey "will come up against something:" "Liberalism is a greaterdanger %o South Africa and the .uropeans than Communism. You canmake a law against Communism but you can’t make a law against Lberal-

The struggle of the future "is that of the Rght against the Left,of conservatives against liberals. The gloves are now off. It sa fght to the fnsho"

De Transvaaler and other Nationalist papers picked up the Minister’si’ead and Is0 lnked liberalsm and communism together because bothwanted "removal of the colour lines" and "one man one vote". Theyare "common enemies of South African Nationalsm and must be removed."

Leaders of the Lberal Party answered te attack by pointing outthat according to the Nationalist’s brand of thnking the PrimeMinister and a snowman are alike because both are white. Theyclaim there is equal evidence to conclude that Nationalists andCommunists are alike because both believe in the importance of theState above ndvdual rights and both were authoritarian. Thebelef of liberals in ault franchise, in equal opportunity forall regardless of race, ’ere also shared by democracies all overthe world. Thus, f the South African Government ddn’% beleven these thngs, co,.Id t rightf lly call itself "a bastion ofWestern democracy"?

ditor Lawrence Gander, of the Rand Daily hail, refused to be in-timidated and warned the hlnste=r o-Jst:iC-6":n a front page editorial:"Communism has never had wide support among noD-Whites n SouthAfrica. You are gving i% the stature of a mass movement.

"Take care.....in your desire to discredit liberal critics of theGovernment, see that you don’t over-inflate the role of Communismn the pol+/-ical struggle here, creatin Ior it an importance t couldnot hope to win for itself. Do not persuade the non-Whites thattheir struggle is the same thing as the Communist struggle. Do nothand to the Communists a monopoly of fighting for the rights ofnon-Whites. For if you do these things....you will have sealedSouth Africa’s fate....having delivered a great country n%o thehands of the Communists."

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The supposedly objective and independent South African BroadcastingCorporation (SABC), which controls all broadcasting in the Republic,also joined in the fight. They arranged a series of programs togive the "correct facts" and "authoritative information" on mattersconcerned with sabotage; to inform te public so that they couldmore effectively counter the "onslaught on our Western and Christianway of life." It announced that the authorities had made availableofficial information which would show the extent to which Com.unismis effective in South Africa.

The over-all theme of the broadcasts was that any South Africanwho refused to believe that a Communist threat existed n thecountry as endangering hmself, hs family and his countrymen.Anyone agitating for social and legal reforms was a Communist oa Communist supporter. Those who called attention to poor socialconditions were someow responsible for creating them.

It considered significant hat the political parties most hatedby the Communists were the :Natonalist Party and the United Paty,leaving a definte impression that the Progressives and Libezalswere, at the least, Communist sympathizerSo

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One program was devoted to Mrs. Joseph. It reviewed all theevidence presented against her at the Treason Trial (where shehad been acquitted), listed her associ st ions wth left-wing groups,and left the impression that if she was not a Communist, shecertainly was a cryp%o one.

It reassured the public that house arrests were imposed onlyafter a thorough nvestgaton.

The fnal broadcast featured an ex-enya uropean, now employedby the South African Infe, rmation Service, who was ntroduced as "awriter and broadcaster on ast African affairs." He told of thedecay of cvlization n Kenya as the Black man rises politically."The Press softened up Kenya. It eroded White endeavor. It rottedmorale... South Africa should welcome any measure which willstrengthen the hand of the security forces n fghting powers ofdsruption and chaos which hve engulfed those less fortunatecountries to the north."

(According to reports on the radio and in the major newspapers, eventhe ones considered %o be lberal, all countries to the north arefull of "dsrupton anc chaos". The publc here has been completelyconditioned %o the idea that nothing good could possibly happen in aBlack-dominated state.)

B._u3 .there ...S... ng:pql%!:Cs::n _theSQAlan Paton, leader of the Liberal Party, requested equal tme toreply to the attacks on liberals. He was, of course, turned down.The station could not allow poltcal vews to be expressed.Dr. p.J,. Meyer, Chairman of the SABC said te Radio Corporate-onwas an independent body establshed by Parliament and not even anunofficial State department. However, he emphasized that % wastheir duty to keep the publc informed of dansers that beset thecountry nsde and outside.

Mr. Leo Marquard, re+/-red publsher with the Oxford Press, replied"In vew of the close similarity between the vews expressed by theSABC and the Mnister of tstice, there seems no apparent need tomake the SABC a department of the State. One s remnded of anold verse :

"You cannot bribe or twist,Thank God, the Brtish journalst;But seen what, unbribed, he’ll doThere’s no occasion to;"

The Communist Li s%

After the bg build up, the announcement came that a list of theCommunists in the country would soon be published. The list of 437names that was released on November 16th was a sensation; Not that

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it revealed any vital information, but that i+/- was 12 years old;Those named were members of the Communist ].arty when it was bannedin 1950o (113 more names were not included because the peopleconcerned had applied to the Government %o have their names removedand these cases are still under consideration).

Time moves on, Some on the list are no loner alve. At least55 no longer lve in South Africa. Many have had no connection wthCommunists or the Communist Prty for years (some had. even resignedbefore the Party was banned). And there ere a number of embarrassingmstakes.

On the list was Habakuk Shekwane, a cane furniture manufacturer whohad been finaced by the Government’s Bantu Investment Corporationand ,ho was a showpiece for the Department of Information. His namewas quickly removed from the list.

When all was considered, there were probably about i00 people onthe list who were s%ll allve, still n ths country and had someconnection wth Communism. One edtorals% was led to remark

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"If this constitutes the ’Communist menace’then it shakes confidence in the efficiencywith which the menace is being met."

"Those people who have become Communistssince 1950 when the Communist Party wasbanned hve been taken care of in other ways,"the Justice Department official explained.Then why was the list pu5lished if it was in-complete? What was the purpose in making an ob-solete list public? The answer I received wasnot very clear. "There was considerablepressure on us %o publish a list since manyknew of its existence. We would have likedto have had more time %o prepare i%."

During the last few months of 1962 acts ofsabotage have rapidly increased in the Re-public (JCB-19). They have added emphasisto the iinister’s warnings. He has movedagainst the threats as he sees them by banning

Mr. Habakuk Shekwane orders, "routine" road-checks, threats andCommunist turned prosecutions.Capitalist

Further restrictions

The banned list has grown considerably since the first 102 names wereannounced and bans have been strengthened against those persons al-ready restricted:

Barney Desai, President of the Banned South African ColouredPeople’s Congress, was banned from attending a Cape Town City Councilmeeting %o which he had been duly elected by one of the City’s wrds.

a six-month ban was proclaimed on "any gathering at which thearrest, custody, trial or conviction of any person of any offence...s protested against or expostulated or at which in any mannerobjections are raised thereto..."

New Age, pro-Communist weekly, was banned and the possession ofany 6- its issues made an offence. (Under the Sabotage ACt no newnewspaper can be registered for publication without a deposit of$28,000, the deposit to be forfeited if the htinister bans %he pper.Proprietors of New Age were prepared however and started anotherWeekly before %e’ dealine. Now mos of the ew Age staff work forSDark, named for a Troskyite newspaper publishc’xn-Cape Town in the

The Government has made it impossible for New Af.ri.c, a well-written, leftish review, %o continue publication unless they pay adeposit of $14,000, a sum they would then lose if he hiinis+/-er bansit.

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The South African Institute of Race Relations had to cancel aninternational conference on human relations when the Governmentrefsed visas %o the dstingushed speakers nvted from abroad.The Prime Minister had announced earler that he was opposed tosuch a cenference which he considered %o be nothing more than anattempt to embarrass the Government.

The inster of Justice will ntroduce legislation n thssession of Parliament to ban au+/-omatcally and absolutely fromthe bar all lawyers he suspects mig.t hold Cmmunst belefs.Representatives of the Bar Council are opposed %o the dea, be-levng that they have sufficient au%hor+/-y already %o take care ofthose ul%y of msconduc% nd %hat the Mnster Iready has amplepowers %o deal wth anyone he considers %o be a danger to the State.They stress that the rizh% of admission to the bar should be deter-mned by established conduct rter than by mere belef.

The Minister disagrees. He believes a person with Communist beliefsis already a threat even before he does anything. He feels stronglythat the Government must control the legal profession if Communismis to be controlled. And he is in a position to do srmething about

Lately he has been distributing "warnings" (the number has notbeen dsclosed) to people who must abandon their present activitiesand associations f they ,ant %o avoid house arrest.

Warnings which have come to light have been delivered to Miss blollyAnderson, 25, secretary in the Johannesburgoffice of the South African Congress of Trade

Brea st quip, Unions (SACTU) (also convicted of distributinglterature of an unlawful organization, the ANC),{rs. Dana Schoor, 19 year old actress andMss Ann Ncholson, 22 year old art student.All three were members of COD before % wasbarmed.

I’m warning you---whateveryou’re doing wrong, don’t do

it!

While they were warned to stop what theywere doing, it was never made clear justwhat they could and could not do. MssNcholson wrote to the Minister for clsrf-cation and was rewarded wth a letter be-ginning "Mr. Ncholson, Der sir," andmerely quotn %hst part of the Sabotage Actwhich states that the Minister hss the powerto curtail the activities of anyone whom hefeels may be doing injury %o the State.

The latest "warning" made public by therecipient was delivered just a iew days agoto the secretary of the Liberal Party heren Pretoria. (Another was delivered at thesame tme to a Lberal Party official inCape Town but he has not made it public)

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Mrs. Hain was told that she was taking part in activities calculatedto further the aims of Communism.

"I have done nothing which could further the aims of Communism," shesaid in her only public statement. "The Liberal Party has alwaysbeen an enemy of Communism. We feel that the way ,o fight i+/- is %ostamp out the places in which it breeds."

lrs. Adelaine Hain

Cartoons by Bob Conolly

NLrs. Hain, the mother of ’four young childrenand a neighbor of ours, spends most f hertime doing social service work among non-Europeans in trouble.

Liberal Par+/-y members have been saying forsome time that it is their opposition andnot the dangers of communism which +/-heGovernment wants %o subdue, and Mrs. Hain’swarning seems %0 give some support %o theirbelief.

The latest edict, proclaimed just afterChristmas, further restric+/-s "named" Deople.I+/- forbids anyone on any list compiled under%he Suppression of Communism Act (presumably+/-hose on %he firs% two lists) from being anoffice bearer or a member of (a) 36 listedorganizations, including %hose in %he CongressAlliance (Natal Indian Congress, SAGTU, etc.>as well as +/-he pan-African political groups in+/-he High Commission Territories: %he Basu%olandCongress Party, %he Swaziland ProgressiveParty and %he Bechanaland Peoples’ Party; and(b) "any organization which in any mannerpropagates , defends, attacks, criticizes ordiscusses any form of State or any principleor policy of the Government of a State, orwhich in any manner undermines the authorityof the Governmen+/- of a State...."

This covers jus abou all he groups, profession,al, social, religious, busness, who might a+/-some %me comment on Governmen+/- or Governmentpolicy. No clarification of this edict hasyet been given.

Received in New York March 4, 1963.